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2020 Group Reads
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April Group Read: Deacon King Kong
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message 51:
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Lulu, The Book Reader who could.
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May 13, 2020 08:53AM
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Yeah, that’s what I thought too. But in the end it would have been too hard to get to. I enjoyed the book more than I thought I would.
I just thought of another suggestion, but my preference is still Slay Play; has anyone read Nickel Boys?
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I am so late to the party on Deacon King Kong. It’s May 27 and you all are prepping for Conjure woman. I read all the comments on Deacon King Kong. It seems the book is not everyone’s flavor. I too thought he might have done this a different way so the story started earlier but after pondering that for awhile I think he handles all those characters as well as possible. I write and taught literature. Generally, there are only two or three characters, but this big cast of chapters more closely resembles the way black people have lived, I. E., in a community.
The first time I encountered that was in Ed Jones in his novel “The Known World.” The technique is to Put the cast of characters up front and develop them before you use them. Mostly what we are familiar with is jumping into the story and learning who the characters are as the story develops.
It’s a jarring departure from the usual.
I agree with all your comments from the confusion in the beginning to the story of drugs and honor at the end.
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Hi Lulu. Thanks for the response. And the book. I so appreciate you. I wanted to check in on Deacon King Kong though most everyone has gone away. LOL. I put up a review on it that explains a bit more about my take on The Known World. That was a book I put down twice because my brain started hurting. But as I began to understand Jones’ method, I learned to hang out with books that take their time and do their own thing. It’s literary realism black style.
I think I need to skip June and conjure woman because I have a few books to read in service of my own writing and a lot of work to do to support my new book. I will check in for July. Keep those notifications coming. You are doing a great job.
We will still be reading Conjure Woman in July. I’m glad you enjoyed DKK. The characters themselves didn’t overwhelm or confuse me. My problems with the book in general was the way he talked down about some of the characters. When characters degrade each other idd RSS s fine. When the narrator does it’s seems mean to.
Umm. I am thinking about how the author talked about the characters. At the church, mcbride dismisses Rev. Gee. I thought Sister Gee dismissed her husband as well. The description of her actions made me wonder what the reverend did. Some of that was intended to elicit sympathy for Sister Gee when she leaves her husband.
Yes, I agree. I figure he was a womanizer. I also wondered what the cops wife did wrong for him to be so taken with Sister Gee.
